The One Take Super 8 Event began in 2000, with 20 filmmakers each shooting a single reel of Super 8 film, which then premiered to an audience without the filmmakers seeing their work beforehand. All the films were shown as shot, no cuts, no splices. The popularity of this non-competitive festival has allowed it to return each year with more filmmakers participating. To date over 1000 films have been created for more than 50 One Take Super 8 Events!

One Take Super 8 Event

The One Take Super 8 Event (OTS8) began in 2000, with 20 filmmakers each shooting a single reel of Super 8 film, which then premiered to an audience without the filmmakers seeing their work beforehand. All the films were shown as shot. No cuts. No splices. The popularity of this non-competitive festival has allowed it to return each year with more filmmakers participating. To date over 1000 films have been created for over 50 One Take Super 8 Events across North America!

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Meant to do this sooner, but a lack of wi-fi access and some travel and finally I'm getting things together after two incredible events in Saskatchewan this June.

Saskatoon set the bar high for themselves after their 1st One Take Super 8 Event. You never would have known they hadn't had an event before. Only 14 films, but they were fantastic. A great range of films, from quirky comedies (with sock puppets) a couple of dance films, home movie homages and an elegy to amusement parks. The films alone would have made the event a success, but Saskatoon really showed up and made the Roxy come alive with over 150 people attending, as well as great coverage in Planet S, the Star Phoenix and CBC radio and TV news.

We had about 48 hours to recover before heading south on the #11 with projector in tow to revisit our OTS8 birthplace and return to the RPL theatre to screen 25 new films in Regina. After a couple years hiatus, the filmmakers returned with a new vigor and incredible ambition in making their films. Again the cross section of films was as diverse as the filmmakers, including a few subtitled foreign language films (an OTS8 first!). Our capacity audience filled the seats and aisles at the RPL theatre. Looking forward to getting these films out to bigger audiences as soon as possible. Thanks to everyone who took part, we'll post more photos and stories from the events here soon. (Photos: ROXY THEATRE marquee / Regina OTS8 2013 filmmakers)

Friday, June 7, 2013

Everything is coming together for Saskatoon's 1st and Regina's 11th event. Hard to believe that we're almost ready to light up the screen with 40 new super 8 films! Our fingers crossed approach worked, and the films are safely now in Saskatoon processed. I haven't opened the box yet, so I have no idea of anyone got an image, but at least we've got something to put in the projector and hold our breath.

Programs are designed and awaiting printing, soundtracks have been coming in steadily (along with plans for a few live performances which is always fun!)

And we are very excited to announce we will be screening in the main theatre at the Roxy. It's a beautiful cinema and it's exciting that we get to add it to our OTS8 history. We've screened in converted old garages, unoccupied old bank buildings, lofts, churches, waffle houses but there is something special about being in a cinema that reminds you why people fell in love with going to the movies (and I mean movies in a very celluloid sense).

We'll keep you updated as our screenings approach and definitely post some pics and reviews after, but now to the nitty gritty work of splicing those reels together and getting programs folded.

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Well, it's June, which means we're only 10 days away from our Saskatchewan One Take Super 8 Events. While our films are still at the lab (after being held up by Fed-Ex in tornado weather in Memphis - just glad they didn't make it to OZ), it was time to tackle a long overdue project that was making me a little bit stressed.

Both of the One Take Super 8 Event projectors were due for major maintenance having serviced many events in many locations over many years. They've been jostled in cars, buses, airplanes. Crossed borders and time zones and finally were showing their age.

A couple years back I had a friend order some replacement belts off Ebay, fingers crossed that it would solve the problem (both projectors would no longer play films at speed), but when I opened up the backs of the ST-1200 and ST-600 today I really had no idea what I was doing. Thank goodness for the internet which provided me with a fantastic pdf of the original ST-1200 manual on how to replace parts, which I have now permanently saved to my hard drive for future reference. As you can see in the photo one belt (from the ST-600) was snapped and beginning to disintegrate, turning sort of jelly like. I'm glad I got it out before it got all over the inside of the project. Voila! 18fps perfection. Onto the ST-1200 which was a bit more intricate to remove the belt (turns out it was just stretched too much so wouldn't run off the motor). Thanks to the manual schematics telling me which screws to remove to get access to the belt drive, within minutes a new belt was in and VOILA again, 2 projectors running smooth as can be. If I was more tech savvy, there would be play by play pictures and videos demonstrating the process for others to reference. But I'm just not built that way.

Now just the decision, which one will make the trek to 2 cities to show at the inaugural event in Saskatoon, and the 11th Annual in Regina. (Just a hint, likely the brighter projector I have a spare bulb for :) Hope it can make the trip, but glad that I might get another 30 years use out of these 2 tanks. Elmo sure knew what they were doing when they produced these models. No cell phone will ever work this long.